


Grave, the situation that surrounds

by ilyiccia



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Blood, Blood and Violence, Gore, Injury, Let Qrow swear pls, Near Death Experiences, No pairings - Freeform, Qrow is okay surprisingly, Raven in now STRQ’s designated medic because I say so, Swearing, Team STRQ Era (RWBY), Team Strq must have terrible laundry lmao-, Whump, bit ironic lol, im tired okie byeeee, it’s the way I don’t know how to write descriptions for me, lol just another Tuesday for our traumatised youth of rwby :’)))), no beta we die like redheads in rwby, physically at least, wtf are tags and how do I use them correctly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27966443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyiccia/pseuds/ilyiccia
Summary: Never assume;Ozpin had saidalways be certain.Qrow hadn’t been certain however, and it cost him the pain of someone else.In which four enter a battle but not all emerge unscathed (Pre-graduation STRQ)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Grave, the situation that surrounds

**Author's Note:**

> So basically I wanted to write something bout Qrow and Raven so I used a random word generator for a prompt and it gave me ‘Shock’. And originally it was gonna be pretty fluffy but then my brain said ‘make it angsty tho’ and so here we are. It’s set during Team STRQ’s Beacon years while they’re out on a mission. So uh enjoy!!

Qrow wants to scream. 

He doesn’t, of course, because he’s pretty sure that would just make things a whole lot worse, and he isn’t entirely convinced that whatever’s burning in his chest would even allow any sound to escape. He doesn’t scream. Not yet. Not on the outside at least. 

Instead, he stands up and walks towards the figure before him. At least, he thinks he does. He can’t remember standing up and he’s pretty sure his brain and legs are no longer in sync but he decides he can deal with that later. 

_She’s all that matters right now._

Because lying in front of him, hair splayed out, chest heaving, _blood leaking_ , is his twin sister.

Qrow makes his way towards her cautiously. He hears rustling behind him, gasps and whispers and he knows that Summer and Tai are near. He also knows that they know what’s happening and he’s almost certain they’re thinking the same thing as they stare at Raven’s unmoving form: _She looks so broken._

Her body is almost completely still, chest rising and falling laboriously. Her breathing is far too quick and erratic; each sharp, shallow breath demanding far too much effort from her shaking form. Her eyes are wide, bloodshot, unfocused. They dart around the clearing looking for something that isn’t there and never really seeing what is right in front of them. And her blood... it leaves a sharp, metallic scent lingering in the air above. It’s thick and warm and _there’s just so much of it,_ staining the ground and her clothes and her pale, clammy skin. 

He keeps making his way towards her, brain screaming at his legs to hurry up. Then suddenly she makes a harsh, gasping sound and his legs finally catch up with his brain. He’s at her side in an instant, kneeling on the cool grass beside her that definitely isn’t supposed to be such a deep shade of _red._

He tries to speak. He really does try. But the moment he opens his mouth a strangled sob threatens to leave it and he immediately clamps it shut once more. He stares at her, brain still trying to piece together what actually happened. 

Because the battle had been going so well. Everything was good, everything was _fine_. And then that Grimm had come out of nowhere. Big and menacing; hideous noises erupting from inside it as it slashed its way through the trees. And he kept telling himself it was fine. They could handle it, of course they could. They were team bloody STRQ, high achieving students of Beacan Academy! They could handle one measly Grimm no problem. Everything would be fine-

Except it wasn’t. He’d gotten cocky. Summer and Tai has distracted the beast as Qrow sprinted towards it. He’d slammed his weapon over the grim’s head and it watched it fall. It lay silent, still and he assumed it was unconscious. But one should never assume. Assumptions are dangerous, they lead to humiliation, peril and sudden Grimm attacks you aren’t prepared for. _Never assume;_ Ozpin had said _always be certain._

Qrow wasn’t certain however, and it cost him. Because he didn’t notice the beast raising its head. Didn’t hear the soft click of it extending its claws, just as he failed to see the sinister smirk spreading across its face that seemed almost too human for such a mindless monster. 

He didn’t notice or hear or see anything unusual. But Raven did. And just as Qrow became aware of the commotion behind him, he was tackled to the floor. A scream echoed through the clearing, but it wasn’t quite loud enough to drown out the sound of tearing flesh-

Qrow doesn’t remember killing the Grimm. He assumes Summer and Tai helped but in all honestly the scene was a blur. What he does remember is slumping down against a tree, rubbing his skull and shaking his head, brain taking a little longer to work out what happened then he really would’ve liked. Then suddenly everything clicked and there he was fighting the urge to scream. 

He places his hands against the wound; applying as much pressure as his showing hands will skirt as he desperately strikes to ignore the feeling of all that blood. “Rae?” he breathes. “Hey Raven?! It’s me! It- it’s Qrow! I’m here. It’s okay. I promise it’s okay it’ll be fine I swear I- I-“ He’s never been good at this; at comforting people. That’s normally Summer’s job but Summer is crying and shaking and far from coherent. She’s knelt next to Raven, holding one of her hands and gently stroking her hair as she sobs. 

“You sure know how to make a scene Rae.” Qrow laughs. He hates the way his voice cracks; hates how foreign the words sound. He’s not good at making jokes either; that job is reserved for Tai, who is currently standing over the three of them- scroll in hand- talking in a hushed tone to muffled voices of the other end.

He’s talking to Ozpin, Qrow assumes. Someone like that at least. He isn’t paying much attention but the words ‘stabbed’ and ‘mauled’ and ‘blood’ come up and Qrow feels his stomach churn. He doesn’t want to think about this. He just needs to focus on keeping his hands steady against Raven’s abdomen and keeping his breathing regulated. Raven is staring up at him, her eyes unfocused. She doesn’t look like herself. Her hair is a mess, skin pale and clammy and her lips are parted slightly, a small trickle of blood conjugating in the corner of her mouth. 

Qrow feels sick and has to try very hard to swallow down his feelings along with the bile rising in his throat. He’s not good at being strong because that is supposed to be Raven’s role. She’s cold and firm but she is strong and that’s what they focus on most of the time. She isn’t the leader but she often ends up taking control,: making the decisions Summer is too afraid to face; asking the questions Taiyang can’t put into words; and steadying Qrow’s hands when he is faced with adversity. 

Raven had become the designated team medic at some point. Perhaps it was because she had paid more attention back at the Branwen camp when they’d learnt first aid and knew a lot more about antiseptics and cauterising than the rest of them. Or maybe she was just the best at hiding her own pain and the only one who could convince someone to let her take care of them even when she was hurting worse. 

But Raven is hurting too badly now. Worse than any of them ever have. It is impossible for her to hide the gaping wound in her side and she has no strength to choke out any sort of reassurance that she is fine. _It would be a futile lie anyways._ There is no one left to steady Qrow’s hands and the weight of having to try and be strong weighs heavy upon his trembling shoulders. 

Qrow isn’t entirely sure what his own role in the team is. He used to joke that he was the black sheep of the group; an omen that brought only bad luck. Recently though the joke has become less funny as the reality of it all had come to punch him in the gut. Raven had warned him that his semblance could be dangerous but she seems to have some faith that he could control it. But control, it seemed, was lacking for Qrow. Every time something bad happened, he always seems to be in the middle of it. Tai and Summer had gone of plenty of mission alone and come back with barely a scratch; but the one time he had tagged along with them they had returned drenched in blood and bruises. Raven had not been happy that time. and her hands were rough as she stitched up Tai’s split chin.

It was the at that point he had become more aware of the sheer danger his semblance. Of course at the camp he was constantly reminded of it often by tribe leaders but he had never cared enough about anyone there to reminisce on the destruction it caused. But Summer and Tai did not deserve to suffer because of his burden; and even Raven, for all her attempts to appear unfazed was beginning to grow weary of the constant hum of Qrow’s bad luck. 

And had she not been weary before she surely would be now. For even if his semblance was not the direct cause of the Grimm’s attack, Qrow was the one the hit was aimed at and that fact posed a threat to the idea it was but coincidence. Grave, the situation that surrounds. As Qrow kneels on grass stained a sickening shade of red there is a part of him that wonders- believes almost- that had he not been here then Raven would not be bleeding out beneath his grasp. 

Above him; Tai’s hands shake as he grips his scroll. The muffled voice on the other end grows louder and and Taiyang opens his mouth to answer but no words come out. Instead he lets out a strangled sob as hot tears suddenly streak his face. He sobs and cries and then he shouts. It’s an ugly, incoherent sound that leaves his mouth. But Taiyang keeps shouting, even when Qrow screams at him, _begs him_ to be quiet. He shouts and yells and swears down his scroll and he doesn’t even really sound like Taiyang anymore. Qrow hears the muffled voices growing louder and he knows they’ll get an earful from Ozpin once they get back to Beacon. 

They will get back. He knows they will. All of them. Together. Completely fine. Everything will be fine. Everything is fine. It’s fine. _Fine._ ~~_Fine._~~

 _Everything is so fine,_ he thinks, that even Raven’s sharp breaths have begun to slow down. The grow quieter, softer and that’s good... probably. Her breaths become more steady and that’s fine, that’s good, really good. And fine. Like him. He’s fine, by the way. Totally fine. Everything is- 

“QROW!”

Summer’s voice drags him back to reality. He looks up and sees her expression; a mix of terror, pain and desperation. “Qrow...” her voice breaks, is barely a whisper. “Qrow she’s not- I don’t know what to do! She’s not breathing Qrow...! She’s not-“

“Fuck- Raven- no no NO!” Qrow isn’t entirely convinced that it’s his mouth those words come from because he doesn’t remember saying them. He also doesn’t remember how to breathe for a moment but he works it out after a few agonising seconds and ignores the twisted pain in his chest. 

“Stay with me sis. Please you can’t leave. Not now. Not like this!” He desperately pumps his hands against her chest. He’s never been good at this and he suddenly regrets zoning out during all those first aid corses at the camp. Summer is yelling- shrieking- something about “doing it wrong!” and as sweet and lovely as Summer is Qrow really wants to tell her to shut up so he can properly focus on how fucked he is right now. 

Tai’s voice starts to mingle with all the yelling at some point as he desperately begs the person of the other end of the scroll for help. Whoever it is they don’t seem to be very helpful because eventually Tai throws the scroll to the ground and kneels next to Qrow. 

“You need to use the heel of your hand.” he mumbles, eyes fixed on Raven’s unmoving chest. Qrow hears him and Qrow understands the words leaving his mouth but his brain seems to be moving at some agonisingly slow pace and he can’t for the life of him process what Taiyang is saying at a useful speed. 

Eventually, Tai grows restless, pushing Qrow’s hands away and replacing them with his own shaky pair. As much as Qrow wants to protest he realises pretty quickly that letting Tai take charge is probably a much safer option. Slowly he stands, moving away from the scene and praying that his area of affect isn’t so large as to cause anymore pain to his sister if he is standing away from her. 

He moves like a ghost across the clearing, far too aware of all the sounds around him and the lack therefore of the one unmistakable sound of Raven’s breaths. Eventually, when he feels is at a safe distance he turns back and locks his eyes on the scene. Time moves far to slow and yet it speeds by him in an instant as he stands waiting in some form of clockless unconscious. There is a static in his mind blocking out any rational thoughts and he can no longer even try to convince himself that the situation is or ever could be fine. 

Past Qrow of about 5 minutes (or perhaps 2 hours, it was really becoming hard to tell) who was kneeling by his sisters side on crimson grass, was naive. Present Qrow is terrified. His eyes stay trained on his sister’s still form. Sometimes his vision blur with unshed tears and the light tricks him into thinking her chest moves. But the light is deceitful and any motion is only that of Tai’s desperate hands. 

Qrow had become well acquainted with death growing up in a tribe full of murderers but the idea of watching his sister die was so eerily foreign that just thinking about it feels wrong. The world moves around him in clumpy blurs of colour and noise and all he can focus on is the blood on his hands. Slowly he looks down at it. There is so much more than he had first noticed and the sudden realisation brings with it bile rising in his throat. 

The metallic stench of blood punches him in the face and all he can think about is what it means and what it could mean if Raven doesn’t take another breath within the next minute. 

He doesn’t want to think about it but his brain tunnels in on that own single idea as the notion of death bounces around his mind, tormenting him. He feels ill and lightheaded and he can’t comprehend any of this because Raven was fine not 10 minutes ago. Or maybe it was 10 hours. Time has lost all meaning and he really isn’t sure how long it’s been since her chest when still but he does know that it has definitely been _too long_ and that if it doesn’t move again soon it may never move again and that thought alone crushes him harder than the weight of any responsibility. 

Qrow is not strong but Raven is and Raven should be fine. He should be the one on the ground because that’s the way it’s always been. He falls and she picks him up and even when she’s cold about it there is still a softness in her eyes because he is her brother and she does care about him for all she tries to hide it. 

Qrow is not strong and as he stares at Raven laying in the ground he feels as though he might fall apart all together. 

The pain in his chest has multiplied tenfold and breathing is coming less easily. Slowly, he takes a breath. Silently, he wills his sister to do the same. 

Qrow breathes in, Raven doesn’t move. 

Qrow breathes out, Raven remains still. 

Qrow breathes in...

...Raven gasps. 

And Qrow almost forgets to breath out, choking on the air as he dashes forward, semblance and misfortune forgotten. 

Raven coughs, eyelids fluttering as Tai pulls back in surprise. He blinks several times and behind him Summer makes a noise between sobs that might almost be happiness. Raven groans, looking up as Qrow reclaims his spot of the grass next to her. He ignores the red around his knees this time and simply focuses on his sisters eyes as they stare up at his. They meet his gaze this time. And despite all her pain and confusion and the fact that their is a _literal gaping hole in her side;_ Raven stares up at Qrow and Raven smiles. 

In the distance, there is a low hum of an aircraft and relief floods over Qrow in a great crashing wave. He has no regard for the earful they’ll likely get from Ozpin or the sheer amount of red staining his skin. His sister is alive. Despite everything, she stayed. 

There is a stark irony embedded in there but Qrow will not know of it for a long time, not until he is older and more withered and the true scope of reality’s cruelty has been revealed to him. 

But in that moment, all that matters is that Raven is alive. Raven is breathing, her heart is beating and situation is no longer so grave. There is still a thought in the back of his mind that this was his fault and he should have been stronger of faster or more certain. But blame anf regret can wait. Raven smiles up at Qrow and in the face of everything, he smiles back.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this is kinda messy, I’m still just tryna figure out my style hehe. I hope you enjoyed! Have an absolutely wonderful day <3


End file.
